noun
pl. -·tails· a whip made of nine knotted cords attached to a handle, formerly used for flogging
cat-o'-nine-tails
cat-o'-nine-tails cat-o'-nine-tails
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"cat-o\'-nine-tails." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 10 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/cat-o-nine-tails>.
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cat-o\'-nine-tails. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/cat-o-nine-tails
cat-o'-nine-tails
noun
pl. cat-o'-nine-tailsA whip consisting of nine knotted cords fastened to a handle, used in flogging.
Origin of cat-o'-nine-tails
So called because it leaves marks like the scratches of a catTHE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"cat-o\'-nine-tails." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 10 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/cat-o-nine-tails>.
APA Style
cat-o\'-nine-tails. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/cat-o-nine-tails
Noun
(plural cats-o'-nine-tails)
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"cat-o\'-nine-tails." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 10 December 2018. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/cat-o-nine-tails>.
APA Style
cat-o\'-nine-tails. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10th, 2018, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/cat-o-nine-tails
